Freeloader: 1UP's Free and Indie Gaming Blog

The best free (or almost free) games on the Internet, updated daily.

Cruising through the galaxy, a lone traveler's ship is suddenly struck by a meteor! Meanwhile, a strange, dark planet orbits by and offers a safe landing area for the traveler... or so he thinks. Realizing he is stranded on the planet, the traveler decides to look for spare parts for his ship. Will he make it home? That part is up to you.

As mentioned before, the goal of the game is to find spare parts for your ship. In fact, there are ten spare parts that you must collect in order to return your vessel to its former glory.

Along the way you'll find only a few upgrades to aid you as you explore the depths of the cavernous maze. Expect to see powers such as the ever-present double jump, jump higher, and speed perks.

There are various deadly inhabitants on the planet, but no real way to defeat them. Therefore, you'll have to do your best to avoid them. If you are killed, you won't lose any of your progress, but rather be sent back to the last save point you've come across.

After you've collected all 10 repair parts, return to your ship and prepare for the blast off back home (maybe*).

If you have 10 or 15 minutes to kill, give this game a try. Its not terribly difficult, but it is quite fun to play and pretty to look at.

'Tis the season to get your game on! For all of you who can't wait for that new Xbox 360 or PS3 game sitting under the tree, here are three fun games all about expressing the joy of the season.

The Snow Runs ReadIn this pixel-art shooter its the year 2020 and Santa is dead. Children have become greedier and greedier over the years and since the death of old Saint Nick means no presents are being delivered, the little miscreants are flocking to the North Pole to raid Santa's workshop. Who will stop this despicable plundering? None other than Misses Clause. Armed with a bazooka and tree that spits out weapon upgrades, this old maid is ready to take on the whole hoard of little bastards.

PoltergiftsIts every kid's worst nightmare. What's scarier than toys that are alive? Toys that want to steal your soul and eat your entrails, that's what. In this tower defense game, beat off waves of demonic toys with an array of weapons like squirt guns and firecrackers. Collect money and upgrade your arsenal's firepower and save Christmas!

Mountain Maniac XmasThe hammer poundin' mountain man is at it again! Except now its all about Christmas. After being charged for the building crushing and rock splattering from the last game, the Mountain Maniac is sentenced to community service as a mall Santa impersonator. Filled with rage, the bristly bearded mountaineer goes after Santa and wreaks havoc on Christmas town.

Lastly, from all of us at the Freeloader Blog: Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa.

Bluntly self-described by creators Somethin' Else as "the video game with no video," quasi-spelunking sim Papa Sangre can be enjoyed while blindfolded, though it's best experienced with the lights off and headphones on. It sounds a bit unusual because well, it is. The game's official site has a trailer that kinda clues you into how it all works (as does its brief and helpful tutorial), but sufficed to say you have to lay your hands on it to get a feel for it.

The asking price is a formidable $7, which, yeah, is a bit steep for iPhone games but the lack of video by no means diminishes its depth. The audio is rendered in real-time entirely in 3D, meaning you'll have to rely completely on your hearing as you make your way through this pitch-black, monster-infested cave. Again, hop over to the official site for the audio-only trailer. Also make sure you've got at least a 3GS, as anything that came out before that simply can't run it.

People are always griping about how games don't take enough chances, so don't snooze on this. At the very least you'll have something to play while faking sick at your family's house, hiding under the covers to avoid another goddamned argument. Hop over to the iTunes store and check it out.

P.B. Winterbottom is a notorious pie thief. One day he catches a mysterious scent in his oversized honker that leads him on an adventure, or misadventure as it were, through time after the elusive Chronoberry Pie.

Solve puzzles by cloning P.B. and record his actions: make stacks of P.B., pull levers, jump on switches, etc.

This comical, hand drawn style game is a must for anyone who loves platformers and puzzlers and at less than 50 cents, there isn't any justification for not picking it up.

All of the games in this year's Humble Indie Bundle are from 2009's indie game line up, except one. Revenge of the Titans is a brand new indie game from Puppy Games.

In this tower defense adventure, aliens known as Titans have invaded several cities on Earth and you've been commissioned to defend the planet from the hulking invaders. Defend several cities on Earth and then head out into the final frontier in search of the source of these crushing giants.

Place turrets and barricades along the enemy's path and blast them back into the cosmos and set up crystal refineries to acquire money to spend on your building your arsenal. Also, money is awarded at the end of each battle. Use funds to research new areas of science to invent new weaponry and to defend the world against the ever evolving onslaught of monsters.

Remember, Revenge of the Titans is part of the Humble Indie Bundle which means that you can pay what you want for this, and 4 other great indie games. Any amount of money is appreciated and keep in mind that if you were to purchase all the games at their retail value, you'd be spending around $85! Take advantage of this great deal before its too late!

The above picture was taken by me after unfolding the piece of perforated cardboard that forms the opening of a "Fridge Pack" of carbonated soda. If the silhouette is familiar to you, than you are one of many, myself included, that are quite excited about the impending release of Tron: Legacy, this Friday, December 17th. Regardless of how Tron: Legacy ends up, as the sequel to a movie many credit as the origin of their interest in computers and video games, I feel that there's been enough time between the two movies that one won't leave an irrevocable tarnish on the other. (Disney seems not so confident in that regard, as they've literally removed all traces of the original from store shelves.)

One of the things I love most about the original TRON is its genuine affection for video games and those that enjoy them. The character of Flynn is one of the most socially competent, smart, and attractive (dare I say, "cool") video game players to ever appear in a mainstream motion picture. The scene in which Flynn beats the high score in the fake Space Paranoids game is not a basis for ridicule, but is a genuinely exciting triumphant moment. I can't remember seeing this much genuine excitement over a video game high score in a movie until The King of Kong (though even that film occasionally dips into the well of ridicule with the "got a kill screen coming up" moment). Sure, it's a little bit over the top and fanciful, with Flynn being flanked by four (four!) hot girls (and two hot guys), but it really drives home the point that Flynn is not a disgusting video gaming troll.

While we'll probably never get the chance to best Flynn's high score in a crowded arcade, surrounded by adoring fans, we can at least now attempt to do so on our computers. Some time around the announcement of the TRON sequel, Disney created a web-based version of the previously non-existant Space Paranoids game that is essentially the authentic experience. It's surprising that it took this long, but I suppose it's taken this long for games to reach the level of acceptance that they have. The game itself is a fairly standard tank battle game, reminiscent of Battlezone, but it is its legacy that endures. As per usual, I suck at it, so let me know if there are any easter eggs to be found on later levels (perhaps a kill screen?).

Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and search your memory back to your childhood (or infancy for some of you) and try to remember the good old days of the Nintendo Game Boy. With it's dot matrix graphics and monaural sound (stereo if you were cool and had headphones), portable gaming didn't get much better than that! Yep, the times sure were simpler back then.

One developer, Richard Davey of Photon Storm, always had the dream of creating a Game Boy game, but was too young back then. However, dreams do come true. 25 years later, he and his team have created a game that fits the specifications of a classic Game Boy title.

The bad news: Looks like Masaya Matsuura will never make a third Parappa The Rapper game. The good news: He hasn't stopped making games altogether. His latest just hit the iTunes store today, and while it is another rhythm game, it has little in common with anything else he's done before. Titled simply WINtA, the game converts songs into a series of button-press prompts closely tied with trippy visuals: A bunch of squares appear onscreen, begin to change color, and you have to tap them when they turn white. If you miss your cue, the song gets more and more spare. While it sounds simple, and really it is, it takes a while to get used to or even skillful at it.

It's free to try, but the title track, "War Is Not The Answer," written by Matsuura, is the only song included. Right now there's only four other ones to buy and try with it, and while it's not exactly the most amazing thing around yet, like Parappa taught us so long ago, we gotta believe it'll get better.

When did the PSP become interesting again? Jokes about the portable console's sparse lineup have long since gotten old, thanks to rainbow-tinted oddball downloadable games like today's The Flying Hamster. It's your basic side-scrolling shmup, only replacing all the cold, metal killing machines for warm, fuzzy hamsters and penguins toting parasols. Pick-up weapons are excessively available, meaning that when you tire of sucking in air and spitting at the fish bears chuck at you or ninja squirrels and the tons of other adorable enemies, you'll be able to spew rootbeer from your mouth, hock sunflower seeds, and lob tomato nibbles. It's a scant six levels, but its trying difficulty (a harder one gets unlocked when you beat it) assure you won't blow through this on the first try through. The $5.99 price tag is a tad high for cheapskates, sure, but The Flying Hamster more than pays dividends in its cuddliness. Keep an eye out for the owl-boss that shoots lasers from its eyes.

You know, the Xbox 360 is a pretty powerful machine. And while its online stores doesn't get PSN-exclusive stuff like PixelJunk series, the community behind the Xbox Marketplace Indie Store lately seems much more intent on cranking out titles reminiscent of the 8-bit era. That holds true of AdamTheOtaku's newest, Curse Of The Crescent Isle, but it's more than a sprite-heavy platformer. It knows what works and what doesn't in those older titles, and focuses primarily on what warmed our hearts about games like Mario 2 and Duck Tales in the first place: Lots of using enemies as ridable platforms and also chucking them all about the landscape. And of course, you will die. A lot. But that's all part of the charm. Check out the trailer below, and then head on over to the store to buy it for a buck. A buck.